Henrico police shoot pet as they notify family of sons' homicide

I know it says the dog "charged toward the officer off its leash," but it still didn't have to happen. They could have tasered the dog, gotten back in
their car, something. These people had just lost their son; the cops were there to give them the news. Damn it, there are what- 80 million or so pet
dogs in this country? It's a pretty good bet there will be one in the home they're headed to.

This is horrific and I hate to think what will happen to my two babies (one is a pit mix) if some officer trespasses on my property. The dog had every
right in the world to see what the hell was going on on his property.

I have nothing but blackness in my heart for police officers now. This is the 'last straw' for me.

I want to edit this and say: The "dog charged out off leash" thing is probably from the officers' report- we don't know how the dog was acting when it
ran out to see what was going on (again on its own property. My dogs will run to greet strangers too- but all they'll do is lick them to bits
if given the chance to.

My neighbors dog met the same fate by a cowardly officer. Police are just as territorial and feral as the beasts they slay. That mix of emotions (sad
& angry simultaniously) is difficult to deal with. My heart goes out to the family.

It takes my breath away to think of it. All those poor babies. I've had nightmares about it- some times I've even lain awake at night unable to keep
my mind off these horrid stories and imagining 'what if...?' I don't want to think that.

As a member of a loving family that's always made dogs a part of the family, this makes me so mad. I tried to imagine myself in this situation and
even though I'm a pacifist, I could totally imagine myself going berserk and breaking every bone in that cop's body. I'd probably have to claim
temporary insanity later, but if one criminal with a badge is off the streets it makes the rest of the community safer.

About a year and a half ago, I was living with a friend of mine and the police did a no knock raid looking for drugs... in the middle of the night.
Besides assaulting us, damaging the home, and breaking lots of property, they shot his dog. Naturally, they found nothing since drugs weren't in the
home. The worst part about it, my friend is a lawyer and flat out said he had no case against the police/city for what they did. Cops really are
above the law.

With as often as the police kill animals, I wonder if PETA would ever be willing to get involved in these cases.

the position is forced upon no one. if your too scared to be in harms way, then the job is not for you.

we dont need to change our entire existence to make them comfortable. the officers life should be put dead last on a priority scale. if he or she does
not like it then perhaps they should be a librarian or perhaps an underwater basket-weaver or something.

Just because a dog runs toward you, it doesn't usually mean they are going to attack you. Usually it means they like you and they want to play...
Poor doggy

Imagine if everyone pulled out a gun and shot every dog that "charged them"... I probably would have had to kill every dog I've ever met. Amazing
how police are constantly being attacked by dogs. I guess every door to door salesman and every mailman, ups delivery driver etc should be packin
heat. If a dog runs towards you, just blow its freakin skull to bits and its all legal and everything. Cops do it all the time. I wonder why they even
use tasers on people? Just shoot them if they fight or resist arrest. For some reason though, they just use pepper spray or a taser if its a human,
but pepper spray or a taser can't work on a dog??? Usually you can just squirt MOTHERFREAKIN WATER at a dog and it will go away!

Cops these days are a bunch of sissies... They wanna act all big and bad and accept a dangerous job and protect humanity...but only just as long as
they can lower the risk involved as much as possible by shooting at everything that moves. If you're not a particularly brave person, then maybe this
isn't the job for you...???? Like, DUH!!! Cowards need not apply!

What a poor little baby! Awww did the doggy scare the big bad police officer? Awww why don't you go pay down and have some cookies and milk!

The American people have spoken @ the ballot box..........this bizarre militarized behavior on the part of local police forces throughout the land
began in earnest @ the inception of Obama police state. More than likely the black family so deeply affected by these brutal primitive gestapo type
responses voted for Obama - not once but twice.

BTW - NOT excusing the cop brutality here but - This was not just a frisky little pup - it was the most dangerous breed there is - I despise the
pitbull breed and feel that they should be outlawed and exterminated. They are no good and I know from personal experience. They are downright evil.

ALSO - The article says "unidentified" officer - I wonder how many of the dog shooting cowards are women?

Originally posted by Aazadan
About a year and a half ago, I was living with a friend of mine and the police did a no knock raid looking for drugs... in the middle of the
night.

That is something I can never understand, how can it be allowed for the police to enter anyone's home, specially when they do it in a violent way,
without even identifying themselves.

In Portugal the police can only enter someone's home with a warrant (or their permission), and between sunset and sunrise not even a warrant gives
them the right to enter someone's home, only if someone in the house gives them permission.

As a middle aged, average size woman there are very few dogs I have ever been scared of, let alone afraid for my life. If a dog runs toward me, even
if they're barking....you put out your hand so they can sniff, 9 out of 10 times the dog will be friendly or run away cause they are scared. Once a
dog's humans introduce you to their dogs, the dogs usually understand that you are welcome at the home and want to make friends

Police generally work in teams, what real threat could any dog be that could overwhelm two grown adults where anyone's life is in danger to justify
killing a dog? The knee jerk reaction to kill a dog because it MIGHT bite you is very disturbing to me. The alarming rate that we keep hearing about
this leads me to believe it is considered to be the right course of action in the police "unspoken" manual...

It creates trauma not only to the dog owners family, but to society as a whole......it really is like killing a member of someone's family and the
police being "charged" at by a barking dog certainly doesn't justify murder without a second thought on how to handle the situation in many
different ways that didn't end up with a dead pet.

There's a way around this, although its sad we should have to do such things.

If you own a dog place a sign on your gate. Warn people there is a dog roaming the garden. Place a bell button on the gate.
If the police ignore it then I suspect there would be reason to prosecute them if they shoot the dog...or its human.

Originally posted by MountainLaurel
As a middle aged, average size woman there are very few dogs I have ever been scared of, let alone afraid for my life. If a dog runs toward me, even
if they're barking....you put out your hand so they can sniff, 9 out of 10 times the dog will be friendly or run away cause they are scared. Once a
dog's humans introduce you to their dogs, the dogs usually understand that you are welcome at the home and want to make friends

I tend to agree with you here ..until we get to certain breeds of dogs. I know, some will argue till they are blue in the face and dropping dead from
lack of air that breeds are 100% PRECISELY equal and no breed is more aggressive or prone to fight than any other....and I'd say some people need an
education and leave it at that. Ignorance is almost worn with pride by some.

In this case, they told a family the worst news they possibly could bring to a doorstep. The family reacted in a predictable way with emotional
outbursts and general heartache to an extreme. The Pitbull apparently heard/sensed the emotional upheaval and made a VERY bad interpretation of "New
People = Problem creating owners to be in such emotional pain"

Pitbulls are favored and sought out specifically for drug dealers, criminals and dog fighters because, in general terms, they have a vicious and
brutal instinct that can be brought out and trained up without NEAR the effort required in other dogs.

So.... The dog is running on a charge ... you have 1-2 seconds before you're no longer defending an approaching threat but trying to stop further
damage as your flesh is being torn up by a very pissed off dog. What do you do? Run? Dogs are FASTER and WILL catch up....it's why cops use them in
the first place. Taser? Ever try and hit a fast running object when only ONE shot will count and missing could mean you die for it? ...assuming the
taser wouldn't just piss it off.

.......It's amazing how Cop's lives are figured worthless next to the mighty value of a pet. Any pet. In *JUST THIS CASE*, not 100 other cases with
other details ..but JUST THIS ONE...I don't see where they had any choice.

I know that responsible pitbull owners can't believe every pitbull isn't as docile as theirs is. Fact is these can be very dangerous animals. They've
attacked, maimed and killed quite a few people and usually when a police comes in contact with them it's in some pretty rough areas where these
pitbulls are trained to attack and kill.

Now, if I'm being attacked by a pitbull and have to kill it to assure that I make it home to my wife and kids in one piece that's what I'm going to
do.

Here in Baltimore if a pitbull is spotted running loose the streets clear out quick and in some neighborhoods it's the only time they will actually
call the authorities.

** and in this case the pitbull was not in a fenced in area that the police entered. the picture with the article shows it out in the open right by
the sidewalk where children could easily be...although I bet kids didn't play around there, growing up we always knew where the mean/scary dogs lived
and avoided those general areas

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